U.S. patent number 4,807,700 [Application Number 07/098,377] was granted by the patent office on 1989-02-28 for wireline downhole annulus valve.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Cameron Iron Works USA, Inc.. Invention is credited to Robert L. Wilkins.
United States Patent |
4,807,700 |
Wilkins |
February 28, 1989 |
Wireline downhole annulus valve
Abstract
An improved tubing hanger having an annulus passageway
therethrough and with an improved annulus control valve therein
including an annular hanger body having an annulus passageway
extending therethrough with a chamber interrupting said passageway
and a valve ball positioned within said chamber for rotation
responsive to rotation of gear means associated with said valve
ball, a sleeve slidably positioned within said hanger body and
having a rack secured thereto and engaging said gear means so that
movement of said sleeve controls the position of said valve ball to
open and close flow through said annulus passageway.
Inventors: |
Wilkins; Robert L. (Houston,
TX) |
Assignee: |
Cameron Iron Works USA, Inc.
(Houston, TX)
|
Family
ID: |
22269022 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/098,377 |
Filed: |
September 18, 1987 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
166/332.4;
251/250; 251/341 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E21B
33/04 (20130101); E21B 34/02 (20130101); E21B
34/14 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
E21B
34/02 (20060101); E21B 34/00 (20060101); E21B
33/04 (20060101); E21B 33/03 (20060101); E21B
34/14 (20060101); E21B 033/04 (); E21B
034/14 () |
Field of
Search: |
;166/86,332,334
;251/250,315,341 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Massie, IV; Jerome W.
Assistant Examiner: Letchford; John F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Vinson & Elkins
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A tubing hanger comprising
an annular hanger body having a tubular wall with a central bore
and a counterbore below the bore,
a sleeve positioned within said bore and having an external annular
projection positioned within said counterbore and a rack secured on
the exterior of said annular projection,
means on the interior of said sleeve to receive a tool for the
shifting of said sleeve axially in said bore,
a passageway extending vertically through the wall of said hanger
body with a chamber interrupting said passageway,
a valve ball having a bore therethrough, positioned within said
chamber and mounted for rotation in said chamber to align said
valve ball bore with said passageway to allow flow through the
valve ball bore in one position and to close said passageway in its
second position, and
gear means being in engagement with said rack whereby when said
sleeve with said rack thereon is moved axially within said bore and
counterbore said valve ball is rotated between its positions to
control flow through said passageway.
2. A tubing hanger according to claim 1 including
the chamber of said passageway including an upper and a lower
opening into the chamber,
a seat ring secured within each of the openings of said passageway
into said chamber and forming the valve seats against which said
valve ball seats.
3. A tubing hanger according to claim 1 including
a shaft mounted for rotation on said hanger within said chamber and
secured to said valve ball and to said gear means.
4. A tubing hanger according to claim 3 wherein said gear means
includes
a pinion gear mounted on said shaft and engaging said rack whereby
movement of said rack rotates said valve ball between open and
closed positions.
5. A tubing hanger according to claim 3 including
bearing means supporting said shaft for rotation within said
chamber.
Description
BACKGROUND
Wells may be completed through dual or side-by-side tubing strings
or through concentric tubing. In both applications, access to the
tubing annulus is provided. The side-by-side application allows
wireline access to the annulus for the purpose of setting a seal
plug in the tubing hanger. Another annulus bore seal method in the
tubing hanger would eliminate the need for wireline access allowing
use of a concentric design. Difficulties have been encountered in
the past with the side-by-side arrangement in that orientation of
the hangers has been a problem and the side-by-side arrangement is
more expensive. Since concentric tubing strings greatly simplify
the riser, the need for a second bore in the annulus through the
riser and tree valve block is eliminated and larger production
tubing sizes can be used in smaller casing.
Prior to the present invention, concentric designs have been
offered which provide a sting open back pressure valve in the top
of the hanger annulus through bore. This valve is stung open by the
tree to ensure communication with the annulus for monitoring,
killing and injecting in the tree-installed position. This design
totally relies on the back pressure valve for sealing of the
annulus should pressure build up in the annulus. This is not
desirable since the valve cannot be tested until the tree is
removed and killing the well if a pressure build-up had occurred in
the annulus prior to the tree removal is usually not a preferred
method of operating.
Various solutions have been offered in the past to the problem of
having a valve controlling the annulus which is not reliant upon
the tree stinger but can be controlled by hydraulic or wireline
operations. One proposal is to use a hydraulically operated sleeve
controlling one or more ports in the top of the tubing hanger but
this could result in the annulus being permanently opened in the
event of failure of the hydraulic control system.
Another solution has been suggested which is to use a fail safe
spring with the sleeve valve. This is an improvement but still
suffers from resulting in a fail open or fail closed with no other
flexibility.
It has also been proposed to use a wireline operated sliding sleeve
to open up or seal off annulus porting. These suggested solutions
require the use of an internal sleeve valve in the production bore
or an external sleeve valve which is hydraulically operated.
Down hole ball valves have long been used in production strings as
shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,035,808 and 3,796,257 which disclose
fluid operated downhole ball valves; U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,190 which
discloses a dual string pressure responsive ball valves in the
parallel tubing strings; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,675 which
discloses a single string ball valve operated by wireline.
SUMMARY
The present invention provides an improved tubing hanger with an
improved downhole annulus control valve which is operated by
wireline. The improved valve includes a passageway through the
concentric tubing hanger providing annulus communication from the
opposite sides of the tubing hanger, the passageway is separated in
an opening with the opposite ends of of the passageway forming
spherical seats facing the opening, a ball valve having a bore
therethrough mounted on shafts extending outward from said ball
transversely to the bore through the ball and with the ball in
position between the spherical seats, one of said shafts rotating
with said ball, a pinion gear secured to said shaft and having its
inner portion exposed to the interior of said tubing hanger, a
sleeve positioned within said tubing hanger, a rack on the exterior
of the sleeve in engagement with said pinion gear and the sleeve
being slidable axially within the tubing hanger from a first
position in which said ball valve is open to a second position in
which said ball valve is closed blocking flow through the annulus
passage. The sleeve is provided with a suitable internal
configuration so that it can be moved with a suitable tool lowered
through the string into the tubing hanger.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved tubing
hanger structure for concentric strings and having improved annulus
control valve.
Another object is to provide an improved tubing hanger annulus
control valve which provides a metal-to-metal seating when it is
closed.
A further object is to provide an improved tubing hanger annulus
control valve which may be operated remotely either hydraulically
or by wireline.
A still further object is to provide an improved tubing hanger
annulus control valve which can be positively moved between its
open and closed positions.
Still another object is to provide an improved tubing hanger
annulus control valve which is easily and positively operated in
wells in deep underwater locations.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other objects and advantages are herein after set forth
and explained with reference to the drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is an elevation view having the left portion in section of
the improved tubing hanger annulus valve.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the improved tubing hanger
annulus valve illustrating the valve in open position.
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the valve in closed
position.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the ball valve and its operating
mechanism taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The improved tubing hanger 10 and improved annulus valve 12 are
shown in the drawings. Tubing hanger 10 shown in FIG. 1 is
positioned within and landed upon the internal landing seat 14 of
well housing 16. Suitable means 18 are provided to secure hanger 10
in its landed position. Passageway 20 extending through hanger 10
and is interrupted by chamber 22. The end of passageway 20 facing
chamber 22 are recessed to receive seat rings 24 both above and
below chamber 22. Seat rings 24 include means for sealing against
the walls of the recesses in which they are positioned and include
a spherical seating surface surrounding their ends facing into
chamber 22. Valve ball 26 is mounted on pin 28 and shaft 30. As
best seen in FIG. 4, chamber 22 is formed in hanger 10 as a bore
32. Pin 28 is secured centrally at the inner end of bore 32 as
shown and valve ball 26 is inserted between seat rings 24 which
have previously been installed in their respective recesses. Shaft
30 is secured into the exterior of ball 26 in alignment with pin 28
and together they provide the turning axis for ball 26. Shaft 30
extends through plate 34, and pinion gear 36 with a suitable
splined connection and into bearing 38 positioned within plug 40.
Plug 40 is threaded into the outer end of bore 32 and is sealed
therein by suitable seals 42. Bore 32 is open to the interior of
tubing hanger 10 at its intermediate portion so that the teeth of
pinion gear 36 can mesh with the teeth on the exterior of rack 44
which is mounted on the exterior of sleeve 46.
Sleeve 46 is positioned within the bore 48 of tubing hanger 10
immediately below tree stab sub 50 and includes extension 52 which
is positioned within counterbore 54 of tubing hanger 10 above
hanger extension piece 56. Sleeve 46 includes external recess 58 in
which rack 44 is secured in an axially extending orientation and in
engagement with pinion gear 36. The upper exterior surface 60 of
sleeve 46 fits tightly within bore 48 and seals 62 positioned in
grooves in bore 48 provide the seal against surface 60. The central
exterior projection 64 of sleeve 46 fits against the surface of
counterbore 54 and seals 66 provide sealing therebetween above and
below the communication between the interior of hanger 10 and bore
32. Lower exterior surface 68 of sleeve 46 is positioned within the
interior of hanger extension piece 56 and seals 70 positioned in
grooves therein provide sealing against surface 68. Shoulder 72 on
sleeve 46 between upper surface 60 and projection 64 forms a stop
limiting the upward movement of sleeve 46 by its engagement of
shoulder 74 between bore 48 and counterbore 54 and shoulder 76 on
sleeve 46 between projection 64 and lower exterior surface 68 forms
a stop limiting the downward movement of sleeve 46 by its
engagement with the upper end of hanger extension piece 56.
The interior of sleeve 46 includes a plurality of grooves 78, 80,
82 and 84 which are utilized for the engagement of sleeve 46 by
either of the shifting tools. As shown in FIG. 2, shifting tool 86
is used to engage sleeve 46 and raise it to its upper position as
shown. Shifting tool 86 includes dogs 88 having lower projections
90 and 92 which engage within lower grooves 82 and 84 and its upper
projections 94 and 96 are positioned within upper grooves 78 and 80
and upper projection 98 is positioned within the space between the
upper end of sleeve 46 and the lower end of sub 50. In this
position the upward movement of sleeve 46 has moved rack 44 upward
to rotate pinion gear 36 and valve ball 26 to the valve open
position shown, opening the flow through annulus passageway 20.
When this shifting of sleeve 46 is complete, continued upward
movement causes the upper taper on upper projection 98 to engage
the taper on the lower end of sub 50 camming dogs 88 into tool 86
and thus releases the engagement of the shoulders on projections 94
and 96 with the shoulders in grooves 78 and 80.
The shifting of sleeve 46 to its lower position is accomplished
with shifting tool 100. Shifting tool 100 includes dogs 102 which
engage in the lower three grooves 80, 82 and 84 with the upper
projection 104 engaging in groove 80 and having its shoulder exert
the downward force on the groove 80 shoulder. The movement of
sleeve 46 to its lower position moves rack 44 downward with it and
rotates pinion gear 36 so that valve ball 26 is rotated to its
closed positioned, thereby closing flow through annulus passageway
20. Shifting tool 100 is removed by lifting it with sufficient
force so that the taper on its projections coact with the tapers on
the grooves 80, 82 and 84 to cam dogs 102 inwardly and allow
retrieval of tool 100.
* * * * *